• Stewart Copeland
  • Poltroons in Paradise: Concerto for Percussion Section and Orchestra (2013)

  • Palmyra Music (World)
  • 2+pic.3(ca).2+bcl.2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/pf(cel).hp/str
  • timp, 3 perc
  • 16 min

Programme Note

Composer's Note:
Poltroons in Paradise is the beginning of a story, the cheerful part, about those who ride in on the back of a revolution and then discover the temptations of those things against which they had revolted.

I’m imagining a cadre of starving, hitherto excluded intellectuals swaggering through the palace of the fallen regime. The chandeliers, the brocades and the gilded furniture all inspire a grand buffoonery that hides a sneaking desire.

Many composers would regard the mission of writing a percussion concerto as an opportunity to celebrate banging and clattering. A worthy cause no doubt, but there can be great beauty in things that are hit with a stick. And those satins really are quite beautiful…

— Stewart Copeland



Scores

Reviews


To say that his 15 minute piece was executed
brilliantly by Neil Hitt, Graham Johns, Henry
Baldwin, and Adrian Spilett, aided brilliantly by the
superb RLPO, is something of an understatement.
Indeed, the whole piece fizzes with fun, particularly
with a fff blast on a trio of whistles which breaks
thing up nicely. Indeed, even the much maligned
triangle takes a place in the sun which all adds
nicely to the jauntiness of the work. Copeland's joy
and enthusiasm when he came onto the stage to
bask in the warmth of the the rightful applause it
received,mirrored the vibrancy of the work itself.
Chris High, Click Liverpool
25th May 2014
Poltroons in Paradise is a 15-minute showpiece for four extremely
busy percussionists, based on an elaborate post-revolutionary programme in which
Copeland claims "to imagine a cadre of starving, hitherto excluded intellectuals
swaggering through the palace of a fallen regime".The scoring has a gilded, highly
reflective surface...It's structured around
the familiar, minimalist trope of a repetitive melodic loop, on top of which Copeland piles
a barrage of funky syncopations whose most striking figure is a jangling cadenza for
three triangles.
Alfred Hickling, The Guardian
25th May 2014
Stewart Copeland brings the house crashing down... former drummer of The Police turned composer, punched the air in triumph after his remarkable percussion concerto drew an electrifying, energizing performance.
Gerry Corner, Liverpool Confidential
24th May 2014
Whimsically-titled Poltroons in Paradise,...is a playfully melodic piece – albeit with a strong, persistent rhythmic beat at its heart.
Copeland cut his classical teeth in cinema, and the concerto is cinematic in colour and
texture.
Scored for three percussion...it has oriental-infused marimba,
carnival-style siren whistles and a cadenza featuring a trio of triangles.
How could anyone not enjoy such exuberance?
Catherine Jones, Liverpool Echo
23rd May 2014